


Make You Miss Me

by Resistance



Category: NASCAR RPF
Genre: M/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 08:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6511417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resistance/pseuds/Resistance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A song gives Denny an idea on how to win Kasey back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Make You Miss Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [californiadreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/californiadreamer/gifts).



Denny felt like he should have known how long it had been since Kasey left. He felt like it was one of those situations where he should have been able to say “two weeks, four days, six hours”, but he couldn’t. Not because he didn’t remember every time Kasey walked out of their house, but because he wasn’t sure which memory was the one that really meant forever. The problem was that Kasey had been walking in and out of his life for years and it had never occurred to him that one of those times would be the last time. He had a bad habit of thinking that. Kasey wasn’t the first.

The last time he had talked to Jason, they screamed at each other. He would never forget that, not one word of that conversation. There was no reason to think it would be the last time they would argue about Jason throwing away his talent with sprint cars and Denny being too judgmental. Denny didn’t think that the last words he would have ever said to him would be how embarrassing it was to start and park, throwing their son’s opinion of him in his face. Denny would gladly have started and parked every race for the rest of his life if he could have had just one more conversation with Jason, but three days of icy silence were ended by the worst phone call he could have received. He wouldn’t get a chance to make up for that argument. 

Arguing with Kasey was much different, much quieter. Denny found that he didn’t have it in him to scream anymore and Kasey never raised his voice. Their arguments were tears and long silent pauses, more questions than answers. They always ended the same way, though. Kasey said he needed to think and he was going for a walk. He didn’t come home for days or sometimes weeks. He’d talk to Jordan about seeing Taylor instead of Denny, when he was really upset about something. That was the other thing, he never got angry, he got upset. Always over the same thing, the fact that he thought Denny thought he couldn’t measure up to Jason. Not in Charlie’s eyes, that was for sure. And too often, Kasey said, Denny got his opinion on life from Charlie. He wasn’t completely wrong. 

The last time Kasey walked out, he didn’t run to Eric, like he usually did. That should have been Denny’s first clue, but of course it wasn’t. He hadn’t known who Kasey had run to until much later, but even if had, it wouldn’t have worried him. There was a part of Denny that knew Kasey would always come back, no matter what. And then came the day that he called Kasey’s phone and someone else picked up. He called late enough that he knew Kasey would be home, not in the shop or any kind of event. He expected Kasey was as alone as he was, but that was wrong. 

“Hello?” The slightly unfamiliar voice said on the other side of the line.

Denny frowned, checked that he had pressed the correct contact and put the phone back to his ear, “Can I talk to Kasey?”

There were murmurs from the other side of the line. He could hear laughter in the background, but he wasn’t sure if it was Kasey or the other man. The voice came back on the line, “No.”

Denny’s frown deepened, he wanted to be able to place the voice and he knew he should be able to, but he just couldn’t. It wasn’t Eric, he knew that much, the accent was wrong. “Who is this?”

“None of your business.” Then the line went silent.

Denny looked at the phone only to realize he’d been hung up on. He tossed his phone away, resolving to talk to Kasey in person in the morning. He intended to head to bed early, but found himself lying in bed accidentally listening to the last playlist Kasey had downloaded onto his iPad. Kasey always complained about Denny’s lack of country music on his playlists and downloaded whatever he was currently listening to without letting him know. A mix of all of his music was sure to include at least one banjo thanks to Kasey. Though lately, Denny had trouble telling the difference between Kasey’s country and his own hip-hop or rock music and he liked that.

He wasn’t actively listening to the music that was playing, his attention on the email he was ignoring and the social media that couldn’t hold his attention. He was trying very hard not to let his mind wander to exactly what—or who—Kasey was doing at that very moment. It wasn’t until the chorus that the words being sung sunk into his head.

“I ain't gonna be that easy to leave,” Sam Hunt sang, Denny felt, directly to him, “Girl, I'm gonna make you miss me. Make you wish that you were sleeping in my shirt. Lie about my jacket and tell everyone it's yours. When your phone rings after midnight and you're thinking maybe it's me, I'm gonna make you miss me.”

Denny wasn’t completely sure that he’d heard the song before, but he started it over again to listen to the whole thing as an idea began to turn over and over in his head. Not every word was accurate to his situation, but something in Denny connected to something in the song. Maybe Kasey wasn’t really a fickle kind of guy, but he had moved on pretty soon after walking out on him. It wasn’t even a full week since the last time they’d broken up and another man was answering his phone. He didn’t like it. But now, Denny was concocting a plan.

Were he going to be honest, Denny knew that his plan was awful. Something in the back of his mind told him he wouldn’t work and he shouldn’t try it, but it was too late to back out now. And if it did fail, it would be all Sam Hunt’s fault. He wasn’t sure if he knew anyone who knew him personally, but he did know people who knew people and he could probably be put in touch to complain. If his plan did work, he was fairly sure Kasey knew someone who knew someone to let him know where to send the fruit basket of thanks. Sometimes Denny surprised even himself with the weird way his sober mind worked.

A few days later, he was trying to look relaxed, sitting in a folding chair the driver’s meeting, “So you got the plan, right? You just know it’s just--”

Kyle cut him off, “I got it. I know what it is.”

Denny frowned at him, “Just making sure. I don’t want you to--”

“I won’t.” Kyle replied sharply before he turned away, scanning the room for their target.

A pang of guilt sliced through Denny. The problem was, Kyle wasn’t that bad of a guy, not as bad as everyone wanted him to think he was. Except for where Kasey was concerned. Kyle changed when even the mention of Kasey entered the conversation. Denny wasn’t sure he’d ever seen such a look of pure hatred cross someone’s face unbidden. Kyle had agreed to the plan the second he had proposed it, though Denny was pretty sure he agreed assuming that it would upset Kasey to see what they were going to show him. Part of Denny wasn’t sure he’d be all that upset, but he had to know one way or the other.

Kasey walked into the room with Chase and Dale. No doubt Jimmie wasn’t far behind. They traveled in a pack at driver events and most other places where Hendrick wanted to show how they ruled the world. Not that it ever bothered Denny. Especially since Chase came along. At least when it was Jeff, Kasey wasn’t as deeply in the pack as he seemed to be this season. He’d never seen the group that tight and Kasey right in the middle of it. He watched Kasey take a seat beside Chase, putting the kid in the middle of him and Dale. Part of him was glad that Kasey wasn’t in the middle, but he wasn’t sure why it should matter. Jimmie joined them moments later of course, sitting on the other side of Dale.

Denny’s stomach knotted as he watched Kasey laugh out loud at something Dale said. He leaned across Chase to say something back to Dale and he laughed again. Chase pushed him back a little, and Denny could see how long his hand lingered on Kasey’s upper arm. No one else in the entire room would have noticed, but Denny saw the look Kasey gave him, the subtle smile, the slight flush of his cheeks. He liked the contact, he had leaned into his touch. Denny wanted to throw up.

Of anyone he would have expected Kasey to move on with, Chase was the last person. Kasey swore that he looked at Chase like a kid, but that blush and lean were not into to a kid. He was looking at him like a lover. Fuck everything, Hendrick Motorsports was a double date, and Denny knew he couldn’t compete with that. Not in the way he had originally planned. He needed a new plan. He shoved Kyle’s hand off his leg and moved to sit in another row by himself.


End file.
